EMI in talks to purchase Warner Bros. Music (1 Viewer)

[Gordon Wakim]

I also agree that DVD-A and SACD are not really going anywhere. Best Buy & Circuit City does little to promote it, they only sell one SACD Player and they only have a small handful of discs buried in the back corner of the store. They do have more DVD-A discs, but they are buried in the DVD Music section. I am eagerly awaiting the release of Dark Side Of The Moon on SACD, but the release of one title, even if it was the best selling title of all time, is not going to make SACD instantly popular. There needs to be hundreds of titles of popular music or the format will either die or stay as an audiophile niche format only. Most of the people I know do not know what SACD is and they think that DVD Audio is the sound portion of a DVD. The promotion of both formats is terrible. In order for theses formats to survive there needs to be much more titles (hundreds), better promotion and education of the retailers and a larger selection of machines, especially below $200.00. If both formats are going to stay then there needs to be more universal players that are less expensive.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Also, in media having an industry standard format often does benefit the consumer. We saw this in the introductions of LP and CD ...

Neither of which was artificially crippled like DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD, DIVX (deceased), and DataPlay (deceased or dying).

In any event, the advantage came from standardized formats, NOT from fewer and larger record companies.

 

[KeithH]

Lee said:

Raise DVDA marketing to a better level such that Super Audio is more challenged.

I don't know. I think SACD is marketing-challenged enough, thanks to Sony.

Aren't the Beatles under EMI-Capitol? Perhaps the merger would lead to...the Beatles on DVD-Audio! Perhaps that's driving the merger.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

In any event, the advantage came from standardized formats, NOT from fewer and larger record companies.

Yeah, I said standardized formats. If fewer companies can agree on one standard then it is possible. One fewer won't matter for the consumer anyway, there is already an oligarchy with five.

 

[John Kotches]

Lee,

Methinks you need a parser upgrade. The discussion was about EMI and their (lack of) SACD releases.

You brought up some interesting names, none of which are germane to the discussion of the above.

Regards,

 

[Tomoko Noguchi]

Well, I can say this. In Japan, it looks like most of the new releases coming out are more SACD. DVD-A isn't doing well in Japan.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

As for EMI, they have thrown their support behind SACD for one of their best labels: Blue Note. We have norah Jones coming out in a few months, for instance.

They have officially announced SIX Blue Note titles and no DVD Audio titles for this great label. I just used Norah as one example. Also, EMI Germany has been mostly Super Audio for high rez with several top albums including Dana Winner.

If EMI is in the driving seat for Warner, we could see some real changes, likely toward SACD. It is much more convenient for the industry to have one standard and DVDA is the laggard here.

 

[John Kotches]

Lee,

DVD-A is lagging in software, SACD is lagging in hardware.

Which one fuels the industry?

Until implementation of either format is as easy as DD and DTS are (one cable transferred digitally, with Bass Management and Time Alignment), they will both continue with their small market shares, with only audiophiles arguing the respective merits.

I would much rather have a standard arrived at by a broad cross section of the industry, than a pair of companies.

This is somewhat analogous to the OpenSource community vs. the Microsoft Empire.

Regards,

 

[Justin Lane]

You need to get glasses. I specifically mentioned the EMI story in the second paragraph. Nowhere did I state these artists were EMI only. I brought them up to show some great artists due up on the format.

Lee this thread is specifically about EMI and their catalog, not any other artists or labels. Throwing other artists in which do not pertain to this thread, is akin to trolling. Please spare of us your unecessary SACD propaganda when it has no relation to the topic at hand.

J

 

[Justin Lane]

I don't know Rachael. We have a cheap 963 player $400 from Philips and a just-announced $250 DVD/SACD player from Sony. They are offering low-cost players just fine.

Did I miss an announcement or are you talking about the Sony DVP-775V that has been out for months and hard to find at most retailers? Please do not use Phillips as an argument, because finding players from them locally is almost an impossibility in this country. They are a nonfactor are far as SACD goes in the US.

 

[Rich Malloy]

Justin, have you been unable to find an SACD player that fits your needs or any particular SACD discs? If you'd like, I'd be happy to help you out. Send me an email [[email protected]]

 

[Justin Lane]

Justin, have you been unable to find an SACD player that fits your needs or any particular SACD discs? If you'd like, I'd be happy to help you out. Send me an email [[email protected]]

Huh? How did you get that from my post? My post was about availability of low cost players. I am not so naive though to think the average consumer thinks a $250 or even $400 DVD player that you can't find locally is cheap or a nice option.

I own a Sony 222ES and quite a few SACD and am perfectly happy with the player at this time. Thanks for the offer though.

J

 

[Rich Malloy]

I actually had thought you'd purchased an SACD player, but your posts made it seem like you've been searching unsuccessfully... well, a belated congrats on your purchase and a belated welcome to a very small club! :b

I bought my player from Oade. I actually have no idea what SACD player availability is like outside of the Tweeters and boutique shops of the world. Sad to hear they're not being stocked anywhere, but I'm not sure displaying them would make any difference. It seems that only a handful of us listen to music any longer, anyways. Just look at we sad refugees, hanging out here in the music ghetto of a home theater forum... maybe popular movies have simply replaced popular music as pop culture's entertainment of choice?

 

[Justin Lane]

maybe popular movies have simply replaced popular music as pop culture's entertainment of choice?

I think this is true to a certain extent, and as far as music goes, concert videos have replaced pure music listening as well. Aside from a very small minority, great sound quality has never been an issue, with portability being more important then everything else. Just look at the progression of popular portable media: 8 track -> cassette -> CD -> MP3. All the while vinyl has been available which arguably can produce better results then DVD-ASACD and can easily outperform the forementioned. Portability at the expense of quality, and most people don't give a damn.

J

 

[Justin Lane]

Earlier I posted:

Did I miss an announcement or are you talking about the Sony DVP-775V that has been out for months and hard to find at most retailers?

Well it seems like I did miss the announcement in the A/V Sources Forum. Coming in August Sony will be releasing a $250 5 disc changer and in September a $400 400 disc SACD/DVD changer. Doesn't help out most people right now, but later in the year it should. With some nice artists and titles coming to SACD, I hope they don't run into a situation where the titles are released and the DVP-775V is not available because they are in between production runs.

J

 

[Danny Tse]

You guys need to take a break from the debate.

Justin, how can you forget the vinyl record as a portable playback format? Check this out!

OK, resume debate....

 

[Rich Malloy]

The kerosene-fueled record player is not a very efficient device.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Did I miss an announcement or are you talking about the Sony DVP-775V that has been out for months and hard to find at most retailers?

You did miss an announcement:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=127114

Looks good to me. All this talk about no cheap SACD players is simply bullsh*t. And current low priced offerings are available at Crutchfield and my local Best Buy.

 

[Justin Lane]

Looks good to me. All this talk about no cheap SACD players is simply bullsh*t. And current low priced offerings are available at Crutchfield and my local Best Buy.

If you consider one player a selection at this point.


J

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Changers, changers, changers. Ick.

Do these 'entry-level' (I don't like saying low-budget as it implies low quality, which is not always the case) players have full bass management?

People buying entry-level players are the ones least likely to have full-range speakers all around (or ICBM equivalent).